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Today, Explained

Many unhappy returns

Today, Explained

Vox

Daily News, Politics, News

4.4 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 5 January 2024

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Your aunt mailed you a sweater for Christmas that’s three sizes too small. Armed with a gift receipt, you set out to return it. The Atlantic’s Amanda Mull enters the returniverse to find out what happens next. This episode was produced by Amanda Lewellyn, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by David Herman and Rob Byers, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

When you order a pair of sweatpants online and don't want to keep them, a colossal, mostly

0:06.5

opaque system of labor and machinery creeks into motion to find them a new place in the world. From the outside you see fairly little of it. The software

0:17.2

interface that lets you tick some boxes and print out your prepaid shipping label,

0:20.5

maybe the UPS clerk who scans it when you drop the package off.

0:24.0

Beyond that, whole systems of infrastructure,

0:27.0

transporters, warehouses, liquidators, recyclers, resellers,

0:31.0

work to shuffle and reshuffle the hundreds of millions of products a year

0:34.3

that consumers have tried and found wanting.

0:37.4

And deep within that system, in a processing facility in the Lehigh Valley, a guy named Michael has to sniff the sweat pants.

0:47.0

Michael and the rest of the mighty American Returns Machine ahead on today explained.

0:57.0

Spark your creativity with The Sims. Sometimes you might feel like you're not creative

1:06.7

and you have to go in search of your creative spark again. Maybe this is catching up with

1:11.2

creative friends, experimenting with a new look or trying out a new recipe.

1:15.6

And thanks to The Sims, inspiration is just one game and one spark away.

1:20.8

Ready to spark something? Download the Sims 4 and play for free.

1:27.0

Embracing the icy crisp winter air, warming your hands with a Starbucks,

1:34.6

wrapping up in snugly layers upon layers.

1:38.0

The signs are all there.

1:39.3

You're entering your cozy era.

1:41.3

And there's nothing cozier than the limited edition Starbucks

1:44.0

almond biscotti oat latte. A new smooth and warming twist on a classic.

1:48.6

Whatever era you're in, find your perfect order in store on Starbucks delivers and the Starbucks UK app, subject to availability

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